ookaaayyy!
I think I sorted it through playing around.
I noticed that when i chose the shape option from from the Insert menu, the Shape Icon on the toolbar activated and allowed me to draw a square or whatever.
next to it was a button for the polygon tool which, when I chose the Polygon properties from the Insert menu, did not react.
I'm guessing I went about it the wrong way although as the polygon properties was listed under the Insert menu I would have expected it to at least insert something somewhere after clicking ok.
As a newbie I'm not going to randomly click on the toolbar to do stuff, I would browse the menu which at least offer some insight into the available features.
However, problem sorted! All's well that ends well!